TORONTO (AP)  Paul Beeston returned to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday as interim chief executive officer, and will work with outgoing president Paul Godfrey to hire a successor before the 2009 season.

"I don't expect to be there for spring training," Beeston said. "I would hope that even before that we would have somebody in place."

Godfrey announced Sept. 29 that he was resigning as president and CEO after eight years, effective Dec. 31.

The first employee hired by the Blue Jays in May 1976, Beeston became vice president of business operations in 1977, executive vice president of business in 1984 and president and chief operating officer in 1989.

He was promoted to chief executive officer and 1991 and held that position until 1997, when he quit to become chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, a role he held until 2002.

"I have a great deal of loyalty toward the Blue Jays," Beeston said. "The Blue Jays have been a life of mine, I've been around them really since the beginning. If I could help out, and it wasn't on a long-term basis, then I was prepared to do it."

Beeston said he was willing to put in three or four months of full-time work with the Blue Jays to hire a new president and CEO. Once that's done, he'll step aside to focus on other work, including serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at a Toronto hospital.

"The sooner we get somebody, the sooner I'll be back unemployed, which I quite enjoy," Beeston said.

Tony Viner, president and CEO of Rogers Media, a division of team owner Rogers Communications, said Beeston was brought in to guarantee a smooth transition to the new president, given Godfrey's pending departure.

"Ultimately, we didn't think it was fair to Paul Godfrey to keep him here until Dec. 31, making decisions that are going to affect next year," Viner said. "That's a very tough ask to make of someone when they've made the announcement (to resign)."

Viner said a search firm has begun looking for a new president, and said Rogers has been "inundated by people who are interested."

Viner and Beeston agreed that the ideal candidate would have the a mix of baseball and business acumen, given that the job also includes overseeing operations at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays' home stadium.

"You want the right person, you want a strong person," Beeston said. "You'd like to be able to get yourself somebody that you could see here for a long time, somebody that is loyal to the ballclub, not to a person."

Known for never wearing socks, Beeston showed up for the press conference without a jacket, his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up. He joked with Viner about changes to the team's dress code, and was characteristically untroubled about the search for a new president.

Whoever the new president is, he will inherit both manager Cito Gaston and general manager J.P. Ricciardi. Gaston who replaced John Gibbons in June, signed a two-year contract extension in September. Ricciardi, who was hired in 2001, has two years remaining on his contract and has been told he will return next season.

Beeston said he'll talk to Ricciardi about extending the contract of right-hander A.J. Burnett, who won a career-high 18 games this season and can opt out of the final two years of his five-year, $55-million deal. Beeston, who helped recruit free agent Roger Clemens to Toronto in 1997, said he'd be willing to help negotiate with Burnett if Ricciardi asks.

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